Graduation Day
by Writer With Sprite
Summary: Wolf's thoughts as Alex's parental guardian on Alex's graduation day. Sequel to "Letters to Wolf" but can be read as a standalone. AU.


Wolf's thoughts as Alex's parental guardian on Alex's graduation day. Sequel to "Letters to Wolf" but can be read as a standalone. AU.

-x-

As stated in the summary, this is a sequel to "Letters to Wolf," but can be read as a standalone. Someone mentioned that it would be funny to see Wolf dealing with living with Alex and Eagle, so I decided during my spare time last night to write a brief sequel to the book. I hope you all enjoy. Please feel free to leave a review.

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When Wolf had first found Alex, Alex had been almost about to get beaten up by his father. Alex had practically hidden behind Wolf's leg and begged him not to talk to his parents. When Wolf had first met Michael, Alex's step-father, he had known why. The man truly defined swear words that Wolf did not wish to utter aloud this morning.

Alex had cared deeply for Jack, Wolf reflected as he buttoned up his suit. But she wasn't the best caretaker for the boy. When he'd first dug into Alex's records and started talking to Alex's teachers, he was surprised. Alex had missed a lot of days of his schooling from his MI6 episodes and Jack's beating. Wolf had not been happy about that.

There were other things that Wolf hadn't liked about Alex's home life; none of which he could change after the fact, however. The first ten weeks of Alex's stay, he hadn't called Wolf anything about his code name. The first month he hadn't spoken without raising his hand. The following months each had their own challenges and own obstacles that they had to overcome.

And then Wolf had adopted Alex. He'd asked himself what he was thinking: Cub and Eagle in the same house. True enough, Eagle and Cub had gone out to the store and gotten him a "first time parenting card." It was pink, had booties on it, and said, "Congratulations on your first child!"

It was targeted towards mothers.

In as much as Eagle annoyed the hell out of Wolf and Snake, he didn't annoy Alex. Alex found him to be a good confidant, for which Wolf was grateful. Sometimes Eagle was just better at knowing what to say than he was. Still, the two together, when Alex was in a good mood, could be quite annoying. Wolf would never forget the time they had toilet-papered their own house.

Wolf had wondered who had done it until Alex, with a semi-guilty and semi-amused face, had confessed.

_Living with Eagle and Cub… _he shook his head as he ran his comb through his hair and splashed his face. He'd gotten used to it.

Fox knocked on his door. "Ready for the big day? The baby's leaving the nest."

Wolf fixed him with a glare. It was the same glare that he used for telling Eagle that no; he couldn't have another cup of coffee, and telling Alex that yes, he really had to be back at ten o'clock on a school night. "I wouldn't say that. He's still living here and commuting to college."

Alex had managed to graduate valedictorian of his class, and even Wolf had been impressed. When he'd finally settled on the paperwork for being Alex's temporary guardian, Wolf had sent him to another school, the one closer to his home. It was a school for the elite, but they'd agreed with Wolf after hearing his story that Alex needed a fresh start in school.

Alex had done extremely well, thanks to the school's tutors, Wolf's finances, and admittedly, even Eagle's help. Alex's one weak subject was biology, and he had managed to pass that with flying colors due to Eagle's help.

"Yeah," Wolf said with a sigh as he took the last sip of his Red Bull and thrown it in the trash. He shook his head, thinking back to his time in the SAS. He never would have imagined that he would have been attending Cub's graduation; much less attending Cub's graduation as his _father_.

Eagle had already left with Cub, ready to celebrate the big day. Eagle had wanted to see Alex's high school before he graduated from it. Alex, rather reluctantly, agreed.

Fox smiled as he slid into the passenger seat in Wolf's car. "Isn't it amusing how Alex is the only one of us who isn't afraid of Eagle's sense of humor?"

Wolf had chuckled at that. "I know," he responded with a humor-filled smile. "I think, to some extent, he even finds it comforting."

"I guess he feels like if Eagle's brave enough to take on you, then Eagle can be a good confidant, and maybe he can trust you, too." Fox smiled at Wolf. "Although he doesn't have nearly the same trust issues that he did. You should feel proud of yourself for that."

Wolf rolled his eyes and glared at Fox. "What are you, my shrink?" he asked as he pulled into the parking lot. It was packed, which was no surprise to Wolf, who struggled to make his way through the crowd.

"Hey, Snake!" he hollered. Snake turned and glared at Wolf. Despite the fact that he knew his friend's real name was "Samuel," and the man had not needed a code name for at least two years, he still teasingly referred to them as Snake.

Snake made his way past the throng of people to Wolf's side. "Call me that again, and I will personally kick your ass," he responded. "We are in public," he added with a grin.

"Now, now, ladies," Eagle said as he came over near Wolf. He handed Wolf a gift-shaped box. "That's for Alex. Thought you might want to open it with him."

Wolf glared at Eagle. "Why? What is it? A bottle of champagne? A bomb? Matching tutus? By the way, thank you for not wearing your tutu to the ceremony. I'm sure Alex will appreciate that."

"You're welcome," Eagle responded. They hurried to their seats that Eagle had reserved for them. The program was now starting.

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The one thing about Alex's graduation, Wolf reflected, was that it was very long. How many kids did Alex have in his school, anyway – two hundred and fifteen? Three hundred? And was he really supposed to clap for all of them?

Wolf and Fox rolled their eyes at Eagle, who was currently clapping loudly for some of the kids who hadn't gotten quite as much of the applause. Wolf didn't even want to know what they would think of the man.

"Remind me again why Alex wanted him here?" Wolf asked through clenched teeth.

Fox chuckled. "Hey, at least Alex only wanted to bring us. It could have been much worse. He was thinking about inviting his social worker."

"Oh, dear God," Wolf muttered as he closed his eyes. Alex had thought about it once. Although she was a nice lady who cared about Alex, Wolf felt nervous every time he was around her. The woman was nice, though, and seemed understanding of Wolf's situation. She didn't even mind the fact that Alex refused to call Wolf by his real name in front of anyone else.

"Children do act weird sometimes, don't they?" she had said, smiling at Wolf.

Wolf had just shaken his head. He sighed again, bringing himself to the present as Alex stepped forward to make his speech.

"…I couldn't have made it here without the help from my father," Alex said as he stepped into the microphone. "My biological father, as many of you know, died in a car accident when I was two. The three step-fathers that followed him were not great fathers; in fact, they were downright abusive. My third stepfather actually had tried to kill me, but then my current guardian intervened.

I had been lucky enough to meet the man before at a training camp and we talked. When he ran into me again, he recognized me. I thought that after he took me from the situation, he would simply abandon me into foster care and I'd be lost in the system. Instead of abandoning me, he took the time to raise me and get me in this school, where so many of you have taken the time to care about me. I'd never know what I do without some of you.

Of course," Alex added, a smile on his face, "Some of the football team incidents I could have done without."

There were a few chuckles to that as Wolf indeed remembered the few football bullies who had tried to pick on the "poor abused kid" – who Wolf had just happened to train in Martial Arts.

"I'm standing here today as valedictorian not because it was given to me, but because I earned it, and because I fought to get here. I'm here today because of many late nights tutoring from my father and his friends. And…," Alex said, grinning mischievously, "Because Eagle promised me he'd give me twenty bucks to see me on this stage."

"I told him I'd make it fifty if he wore pink," Eagle whispered to Fox as Wolf pretended not to listen.

"I'd like to say thank you: to this school, to my friends, to my family, and to my father, who I know as Wolf, and who you know as James White."

The school clapped, and the ceremony continued on. When they were done, Wolf brought Alex with a smile. "Here," he said, handing Alex the present from Eagle. The other three men had gone on their way to prepare Alex's graduation ceremony, which would be taking place later that day.

Alex eyed him warily. "Do I want to open this?"

"It's from Eagle," Wolf explained. "My present's at the house. Eagle said you might want to open it in front of me."

"Oh, joy," Alex said as he tugged off the paper. It held a small card. Alex sighed, ripped it open, and eyed the note. A fake $20 bill was stuck to the envelope – and was dated for when Alex had first started school.

"_Trade this in for the real thing. So tell me, is Wolf really your father now? Never thought I would've seen that happen You did good, Cub, but now we need a new nickname – you're too old for Cub."_

Alex chuckled and showed Wolf the note. "Look," he said as he pointed at the "too old for Cub."

Wolf chuckled, humored by the fact that Eagle had somehow known that he would, indeed, have known that Wolf would have legally adopted Alex. He smiled at Eagle's card. "Well," he said finally, "I guess maybe we could come up with a new nickname."

Alex grinned widely. "Does this mean Eagle can stop mocking me for being your cub?"

Wolf snorted. "I highly doubt he'll do that." He sobered. "Let me remind you of something. You'll never be too old to be _my _cub."

"Aw, Dad," Alex responded, blushing, "You're embarrassing me in front of the girls."


End file.
